How to Beat the Procrastination Habit_美文_双语阅读-查字典英语网

How to Beat the Procrastination Habit

Modify your environment to eliminate distractions.Distractions feed procrastination. How many of these have you told yourself: "I'll just check e-mail one more time before I start.","I'll go for a walk after I finish reading this magazine.","I can paint the house next weekend. I want to watch the Seahawks game today."

Whenever possible, eliminate distractions. Removeclutter（混乱）and snack items from your workspace. When working on your computer, only keep the programs you need open. (Ha! I feel like a hypocrite for advising this — I can't even make myself close my e-mail client for five minutes.) Keep your office tidy. Don't turn on the television unless there's something specific you intend to watch.

Compare your actions with your personal values. Last week I wrote that it doesn't matter what we say is important to us — the things that are priorities in our lives are the things we actually do. How does what you domesh（编织）with what you believe? If you say that getting out of debt is important to you, are you actually doing the things that will lead you to get out of debt? If one of your goals is to fit into your old Levi's, how is watching another episode of The Office going to help you achieve that? Go for a walk!

Take back your brain! I've mentioned this website before in the context of marketing. Itspremise（前提）is simple: Instead of letting advertisers persuade you, use marketing techniques to advertise to yourself. While this is a great way to fight consumer culture, it's also a smart way to combat procrastination. Create some in-home (or in-office) advertising to remind you to stop putting things off, to encourage you to do it now.